CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
UPRISING

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THERE WERE SO MANY dead bodies surrounding her. This statement alone was alarming, but in the context of fighting their way to the underworld with hundreds of monsters blocking their path, Annais tried to take it as a good thing. They clawed their way out of the pit, but then they milled about aimlessly, waiting for one of the demigods to give them directions as they chest-bumped each other for no apparent reason. Some even pushed one another back into the chasm, their crumbling jaw bones opening and closing in silent laughter. Others shot arrows into the air like they were trying to murder the flies, only narrowly missing the living demigods but completely avoiding the monsters they were actually summoned to destroy.

Despite this, Annais forged on, hacking down anything that pointed a weapon at her. One particularly nasty Empousa met a bloody end as she bore down on Annais out of nowhere, somehow missing the splintered shadow that swung at her neck. Hea collided with her from behind, shoving a spear through her back as her eyes glittered in a frenzy.

"I see what you mean about the shadows," she commented while offering Annais a hand. She acted like they had all the time in the world, frowning when an Earthborn threw a volley of stones at where Annais' head had been just moments before. "That wasn't very nice."

He was the next to meet his end at the tip of her spear.

Meanwhile, the others -- excluding Frank, who was off on a mission of his own from the looks of it -- were guarding Nico's back. Her brother was swinging his black sword with one hand and holding the sceptre aloft with the other. Despite their previous petulance, he kept shouting orders at the dead army to no avail. Even Jason tried again, though his voice was shaky and doubtful, most of his efforts focused on summoning gusts of wind to blast aside javelins and arrows. Piper put her new sword to good use but kept her cornucopia close by, shooting hams, chickens, apples and oranges like miniature missiles that thunked off monster heads and confused them.

It really was a wonder they hadn't been overpowered yet. The air was thick with smoke from vials of Greek fire. Centaurs and Empousa had joined the Earthborn, Cyclopes and gryphons. The undead were still milling around cluelessly when, all of a sudden, Annais heard Frank shout a frustrated 'make way!' and hundreds of corpses snapped to attention.

Oh.

Well, she hadn't expected this.

Frank's face slackened. He barely managed to avoid an arrow shot from a centaur, blinking in a nervous haze when some of the closest legionnaires turned to him with blank but expectant eyes. Like they were waiting for orders. The truth of it struck Annais at the same time as another Empousa. She summoned her sword, matching the violently screeching girl with every blow, but her mind had wandered to the reality of why Frank could control the legionnaires and not Jason.

Even the undead saw it now. Jason Grace wasn't quite Roman anymore. His time at Camp Half-Blood, the blooming relationships with his girlfriend and his friends; everything had changed him. Sure, maybe it was for the better, but the Roman part of him had been smothered to embers. He had the values of a Greek and the history of a Roman. The two sides warred but the Greek side won. He couldn't control what he'd given up. Only Frank, the son of Mars, had authority now.

The monsters drew ranks, forcing the six demigods into a tight circle as a wave of Cyclopes crashed into them. Blow for blow, they barely made a dent. Annais gasped as one slammed his fist into her jaw, spraying blood across her face. Her stomach threatened to upend itself on the Cyclopes feet. She ducked, summoning a weak slice of shadow to blow his knees off his legs. He collapsed with a groan, allowing Jason to jump in and deflect an incoming missile between his eyes.

"Babe," he called over the chaos. "You okay?"

Annais thought she nodded but she wasn't sure. She forced her hand away from where it had been nursing her jaw, swallowing a bitter mouthful of blood, and kept on fighting. The others picked up the momentary slack for her. Frank's arrows were flying everywhere. Piper's voice was thick with charmspeak as she shouted encouragement to get the monsters to attack each other instead. It worked on a few, but the vast majority were unaffected.

"Stupid ghosts," Nico shouted at the point where they were all nearing exhaustion.

"They won't listen," Jason agreed.

"Not to us," Hea said with a pointed glance at Frank. "Zhang, get your ass into gear and do what you did earlier!"

It was now or never. Frank drew a sharp breath. With every bit of strength he had, he yelled until his voice filled the cavern, "Cohorts, lock shields!"

Annais' shoulders slackened as the army responded. She let her hand return to her jaw, tenderly tracing the bruise she was sure had covered her skin. In front of her stood a line of corpses hefting swords and spears. They expanded around the whole group, though a lot were moving too slowly, like sleepwalkers, not yet sure they were hearing Frank right.

Jason gazed at them in wonder. "Frank, how did you do that?"

The other boy grimaced. "I'm the ranking Roman officer. They -- uh, they don't recognise you. Sorry."

To give him credit, Jason didn't seem surprised. But Annais was sure it still wounded him, deep down where only she could see his pain. He forced himself to toughen up and ask, "How can we help?"

Frank's answering shrug was full of despair. He barely had time to blink before a gryphon soared overhead and almost decapitated him -- and Hea, who stood behind him -- with its talons. He flinched, diving aside as Nico used the sceptre like a cricket bat and smacked the gryphon into the walls.

"Orbem formate!" Frank screamed furiously in Latin.

This time, a larger group of undead responded. They struggled to push their way through the monsters, adding to the defensive ring around the group, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. Annais couldn't understand why they weren't all responding. If some were, surely the others should've been too. Maybe the Cyclopes had hit her too hard. She didn't know. She could barely think without her head pounding, but some of the pain had admittedly faded already.

"My rank," she thought she heard Frank whisper.

"All these monsters are rank!" Piper shouted back, confirming Annais' thoughts.

"No," Frank said. "I'm only a centurion."

"Well, how do we change that?" Hea asked as she made her own personal shish-kabob of monster guts with her spear.

Jason cursed in Latin, which on any other day, Annais would've found hot. But not now. He was too panicked, and she was too dazed, and they both just wanted to make it out alive. "He means he can't control a whole legion," Jason breathlessly explained. "He's not of high enough rank."

Nico swung his sword at yet another gryphon. It almost collided with Annais but met a brutal end as she ran it through with her sword. "Well, then, promote him!"

It seemed so simple. Jason had no time to think about it as he shouted in his best drill-sergeant voice: "Frank Zhang! I, Jason Grace, praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, give you my final order! I resign my post and give you emergency field promotion to praetor, with the complete powers of that rank! Take command of this legion!"

Again, her boyfriend was hot. Annais was damn lucky and she knew it. But Jason had just given up the last of his connection to the Romans. Frank was praetor now, and he accepted it like the role was made for him. His whole expression sharpened with determination. This time, his voice was so loud that Annais' ears actually rang.

"Legion, agmen formate!"

At last, it happened. Every dead legionnaire in the cavern snapped their head around to look at him. They drew their swords and raised their shields. They ran down a good chunk of the monsters in their attempt to reach Frank. Soon, the group had stopped fighting altogether, surrounded by a wall of jutting bones and golden weaponry.

"Archers!" Frank was in the midst of commanding them. "Eiaculare flammas!"

Immediately, several dozen bows were drawn and arrows knocked. Their arrowheads caught fire spontaneously and a wave of fire collided with the enemy. Annais watched in wonder as Cyclopes collapsed. Centaures stumbled and whined. A gryphon crashed into the open chasm beside them, its wings rippling with fire as the darkness swallowed it whole. She let out a gleeful laugh, echoed by a few of the others, including Nico.

"That's more like it," his face was fresh with confidence now. "Let's turn this tide!"

And so they did.

"Cuneum formate!" Frank screamed. "Advance with pila!"

Annais didn't have to understand him to know what he meant. The undead answered him without hesitation, lowering their spears as if they were the Argo II's ores; like the ores cut through waves, the legionnaires' spears pushed forward, splattering monster dust and muck in every direction. By the time they were done with them, over half the monsters had perished, and the others weren't far behind.

"Jason, can you fly a few legionnaires across the pit? The enemy's left flank is weak, see? You can take it."

Jason smiled at Frank, pained but proud. "With pleasure."

With a parting look Annais' way, Jason latched onto three waiting corpses and took to the sky. Frank watched him go then turned to the next person.

"Nico, keep trying to raise the dead. We need more numbers."

"On it," Nico saluted him and raised the sceptre once more. In reply, more Roman corpses seeped from the walls to join the fight. These ones were definitely ghosts, though. They flickered in and out of focus before striking the thick of the monster army.

Annais stood up straight as Frank turned to her next. "Annais, I know you've been hit, but do you think you can summon a few more of those shadows? See if you can help Jason from this side."

She nodded without hesitation, taking off as Frank commanded Hea next, then Piper. Her pounding head became an afterthought as she shared a look with Hea, who'd been sent to guard Annais' back by Frank. Together, the two sisters parted the crowd like Moses and the red sea. The second she reached the gaping chasm, Annais clenched her jaw and let her eyes close. She was confident Hea would protect her and was right. Hea's shouts as she hacked at nearby Earthborn were soon background noise. In fact, Annais lost sight of her completely when she opened her eyes and raised her hands. The shadows leaked out in one booming wave, washing up the monsters until they were swept into the open Earth below.

Gaea had no choice but to welcome them home, again and again, until Annais was ready to pass out from the pressure in her head and chest. She let Hea block her for a minute, breathing heavily. When she looked up, Frank was blinding the room with red light, leading the final charge with his army hot on his heels. In that moment, he was invincible. Javelins bounced off him. Rocks somehow got deflected. Soon, he was coated in yellow dust with a ring of collapsing monsters left in his wake.

"Tetsudo formation!" he shouted as he passed Annais and Hea and stood waiting by the chasm. "Single file, advance!"

He crossed the bridge. The Frank Zhang that Annais had gotten to know would've hesitated until he was too late. But Praetor Frank Zhang was full of rage and the urge to return to Hazel. The dead followed him, their shields locked on either side and over their heads to deflect any attacks before striking themselves. They'd officially gained the upper hand.

Before they knew it, they'd won. Annais didn't let her guard down just yet, but the cavern seemed completely empty.

"Frank," Jason's voice echoed from a few metres away. "You're on fire."

Despite the white pouch Annais knew was tucked away in his pocket, Frank didn't seem concerned. He batted at the embers until they stopped smoking, then stood with shoulders hunched and his head raised, eyes wired for battle.

Nico wandered up to his sisters, clearing his throat, "Uh... you also have an arrow sticking through your arm."

"I know," he carelessly snapped off the point and pulled out the shaft by the tail. "I'll be fine."

"Who are you and what have you done with Frank Zhang?" Hea frowned at him.

Piper nudged her side, already gathering supplies to help him despite his obvious disinterest. Jason grabbed his arm and flew them back over to the others. "Frank, you were amazing," Piper was saying despite forcing him to eat a piece of ambrosia. "Completely terrifying, but amazing."

"I'm impressed," Hea nodded, smacking him on the back for good measure. "Hazel's bagged herself a good one." Upon hearing that comment, part of the old Frank made a brief return and he blushed. Hea grinned. "There he is! Hi again, buddy!"

Once she'd gotten bored and turned her attention to Annais' bruise ("damn, it got you good!") Nico held up the sceptre. Its crystal was dark and dormant again, bled of its life force as the army milled around and waited.

"The dead won't stay much longer now that the battle is over."

Frank turned to face his troops. "Legion!"

Their bones clattered in reply.

"You fought well," he said. "Now, you may rest. Dismissed."

With that, they crumbled into piles of bones, shields and weaponry. A second later, even those disintegrated, mixing with the monster rubble until Annais could no longer tell the difference. All that remained of their great battle was the giant chasm in the ground. It served as a reminder of what waited ahead.

"Hazel, Mel and Leo," Frank said, gazing at the caved-in tunnel. "We need to find them."

Annais hadn't even stopped to entertain the thought that her sister might not even be alive to find. When the tunnel had come down, she and the other two were standing right on the edge. What if they got crushed? What if that was it, and Annais hadn't even grieved yet? Even then, the agony didn't come. She was numb. Numb, tired and hollow. She leaned into Jason as the rest stared at the tunnel in despair.

"Well, we can't go that way," Nico pointed out the obvious. "Maybe..."

Annais felt it at the same time. She let out a gasp, her vision going black as a sickly feeling filled her stomach. Hea had a similar reaction; like Jason holding up Annais, Piper had her arms wrapped around the girl's middle, leaving Frank to keep Nico steady.

"What is it?" Jason's lips grazed Annais' ear as he spoke. "Hey! What's wrong?"

"The Doors," Nico panted. "Something's happening."

"Ezra," the name echoed on Annais' tongue, tasting sour. "Percy and Annabeth..."

"We need to go now."

She wasn't sure how they knew it, but in this, she was certain. Her sister would die for good if they didn't do something. Their quests would surely fail.

"But how?" Jason asked, gesturing frantically to the other side of the cavern. "That tunnel is gone."

Surprisingly, it was Frank who had the answer.

"It won't be fun," he warned as eyes drifted towards him curiously. "But there's another way."

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THE MINS WERE CURSED. Annais knew this like she knew how to breathe. It was an instinctual thing, a sense of bloodlust in her veins, of age-old anger and grudging resignation. The Mins were cursed, and it was because of the eldest. She bore the weight of her sister's greatest defiance, the tricking of the fates themselves, the bending of time and Death, the place where Annais was supposed to thrive. But Penelope Min was no longer around to atone for her sins. Just Annais. Just Ezra, and Mel, and Hea.

... right?

On the other side of the cavern, deep in the heart of the House of Hades, the air rippled and the Mist parted to reveal a phantom doorway. One moment, they were standing beside a chasm surrounded by fallen monsters. The next, Annais and her friends found themselves walking through -- well, nothing. That was the only way Annais could describe the feeling. Like shadow-travelling, only lighter. The bending of the Mist transported them right to where they were needed.

Standing before Hazel, Leo and Mel was a giant. Clytius. The group of six raised their weapons in preparation for one final fight.

"Sorry we're late," Jason said, casting a brief look at their surroundings. "Is this the guy who needs killing?"

But the moment wasn't his. The figure came out of nowhere. In a trick similar to their own, the twin doors of the House of Hades opened. Out stepped a woman in a long purple dress with her hair pulled back to reveal soft yet sunken features... another corpse. It had to be. Annais was either seeing things or Penelope Min had a twin they never knew about.

The reaction was immediate. Annais stumbled back a step. Hea flinched. Mel gave a shocked cry from where she was kneeling with Ezra's head cradled in her lap. Ezra. She was there. Some of the Mist had faded with Hazel's confusion. It revealed the bodies of their three lost friends; they were alive but pushed to their limits. Annais clenched her eyes shut, sure Penelope was a figment of her imagination, a plague brought on by the cyclops that struck her on the head.

When she opened her eyes again, Penelope had moved. She looked fierce, but not quite lively. Her skin was pale and slick with sweat and grime. Her lips were chapped and tinged blue. She wore a choker around her neck made of glinting silver crystals. It hung limply on her jutting collarbones, void of life. But she could still move. She could still wreak havoc as only Penelope Min knew how to.

In her hands was a decorated Winchester 1873 long gun. It seemed out of place in their gloomy surroundings. Guns were rarely used in battle by demigods. This one was as flashy as they came, but Penelope, once again, defied expectations as she aimed the barrel at the giant's stomach. The gun fired, striking him in the chest.

Then, the Mist bent once again, parting for the Goddess Hecate herself.

Annais's first thought: what the bloody hell was happening?

"And so it ends," Hecate declared, her twin torches raised.

It does not end, replied a petulant voice that Annais assumed was Clytius. My brethren have risen. Gaea waits only for the blood of Olympus. It took all of you together to defeat me. What will you do when the Earth Mother opens her eyes?

She supposed he was trying to sound threatening, but Hecate merely scoffed and upended her torches. She thrust them like daggers at Clytius' head as the corpse who couldn't be Penelope but somehow was reloaded her gun. She narrowed her eyes and focused, firing another shot as fire danced up the giant's hairy body. Clytius fell without a sound, face-first into the rubble of an altar. Hades' altar. His body crumbled to ashes.

There was a long moment of heavy silence.

Penelope didn't even look at Annais. Nor Hea, who had replaced Jason at her side and was clinging to her arm with a grim look on her face. Slowly, she moved to kneel beside Ezra, devout even then to one sister. Mel stared at her tearfully, smoothing Ezra's matted hair back from her eyes. The daughter of Hera blinked but remained motionless.

At last, Hecate spoke, directing her words to Hazel. "You should go now, Hazel Levesque. Lead your friends out of this place."

If she recognised Penelope, she didn't show it. Annais wondered why. What game were the Gods playing? What gamble had been made against fate this time? Why were they always stuck in the middle of it?

Hazel gritted her teeth. "Just like that? No 'thank you?' No 'good work?'"

Hecate hissed. "You look in the wrong place for gratitude. As for 'good work' -- well, that remains to be seen. Speed your way to Athens. Clytius was not wrong. The giants have risen. All of them. Stronger than ever." Great. Just their fucking luck. "Gaea is on the very edge of waking. The Feast of Hope will be poorly named unless you arrive to stop her."

Annais had no idea what she was talking about. She was getting to a point where she didn't want to know. Pointlessly, she frowned at Penelope. Look at me, won't you? Say something and prove to me you're not dead.

The chamber trembled. Dust began to rain down on them from the ceiling.

"The House of Hades is unstable," Hecate warned. "Leave now. We shall meet again."

And with this last threat (or was it a promise -- either sounded dreadfully unappealing to Annais) the Goddess dissolved. The Mist evaporated, and Penelope finally looked at the sisters who were waiting on the other side of the altar.

"Hi," she breathed, in a voice that was smooth like honey but venomous and damning. "Did you miss me?"